“The University has implemented a Staff Employment Values Strategy in order to identify the needs of our employees for them to be able to carry out Lehigh's strategic plan, and we have mapped out specific staff development programs to do just that.”

“The Leadership Development Institute (LDI) at NCC's Center for Business & Industry has provided our employees with the training and development we need to grow,” says Jackie. “LDI's quality programs have freed up the our human resource group to work on the new architecture necessary for the future as opposed to conducting training programs..” According to Matthews, ten Lehigh staff have taken the “Practices of Successful Leaders” program and many others have taken “Exceptional Customer Service,” “Time Mastery,” and “Situational Leadership.” “This partnership ensures we are delivering the programs the Lehigh staff needs to carry out our educational mission,” she says.

The University currently has 24 job “families” identified in its new market-referenced staff compensation program. The job accountabilities in these families are explained and the career development possibilities mapped out. “President Farrington and the University's senior leadership have been very supportive of our approach to staff training and development,” says Matthews, who joined Lehigh University in August 2002 after serving as Assistant Dean at Harvard Law School . “Investment in staff programs has huge potential for academic organizations and more often than not, can be overlooked as a priority.”

“The Northampton Community College resources offered by Don Robertson and Donna Goss at the Leadership Development Institute are as good as offered anywhere,” Jackie concludes.

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